Glenda-- As far as I know, Access makes no real distinction between the two (although I may be wrong). I believe that when the Jet database engine parses the query, it internally converts the two formats into the same thing internally; that is, the DB engine makes a list of each of the values, then compares each item in that list against the table or index. FWIW, I usually use the IN("value1", "value2") construct, as I tend to build a lot of queries on the fly from VBA code, and that allows me to, for example, build shorter query strings, strings that are more readable when debugging, and strings that can be imported/exported to/from Excel via the CSV format. Also, when using the IN, a subquery or series of nexted subqueries can be placed within the parentheses. For instance: SELECT vegetables FROM tblProduce WHERE type IN(SELECT type FROM tblTypes WHERE type = 'cruciferous') Hope this helps... --Jim -----Original Message----- From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Glenda Wells Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 8:21 AM To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mso] Access Select Query for criteria, is it better to use in ("value1", "value2") OR is it better to use "value1" or "value2" OR does it not matter at all? ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the subject line. Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with instructions. Once you are a member of the files group, you can go here to upload/download files: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles ************************************************************* ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the subject line. Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with instructions. Once you are a member of the files group, you can go here to upload/download files: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles *************************************************************